Mike Heika, Stars beat writer for The Dallas Morning News and SportsDayDFW.com, offers his analysis of the players on the team's roster in a series leading up to training camp.

* * *

Name: Adam Burish

Position: Forward

Ht/wt: 6-0, 189

Birthdate: Jan. 6, 1983 (Age 28)

Experience: Five years in the NHL, one with the Stars

2011-12 salary and contract status: One year remaining at $1.3 million

2010-11 review: Posted a career best 8 goals and a career-high14:20 in ice time as he stepped onto a new team and took a significant role.

2011-12 outlook: Expected to play on a checking line with Vernon Fiddler and be a huge part of the Stars’ team defense.

Fun fact: Plays guitar and drums.

* * *

Adam Burish learned a couple of things last season.

1. Pick your fights carefully

2. Be a little more selective in blocking shots.

Burish had a career opportunity last season, and he grabbed it with both hands. A role player and fighter for the Chicago Blackhawks, the Stars signed him as a free agent to become a core leader and top defensive forward. Burish embraced the 14:20 in ice time he received (up from his career average of 10:30) and gave the Stars everything he had. However, in doing so, the gritty forward also got hurt twice _ missing eight games with a fractured orbital bone after a fight and 11 games with a leg injury after blocking too many shots.

Both of the injuries showed just how much Burish was willing to give for his team, but the team’s 4-11-4 record while he was out showed just how much he means to the Stars. Dallas was 38-18-7 with Adam Burish in the lineup, and that has to mean something.

But can Burish play a careful game and still be effective? It will be interesting to watch.

The fight injury was a bit of a fluke, as Burish fought only two times last season. In his first bout, he stepped in and fought Florida’s Dennis Wideman in response to a clean, but hard hit on Mike Ribeiro. Burish won, and that fired up the Stars in a game Dallas won 4-1 _ showing just how much an unselfish move can influence a game. In his second fight, he got dragged into the madness that was the Boston massacre on Feb. 3. Burish fought Andrew Ference and took a huge right that busted his face. He returned to play in that game, showing his toughness again, but he missed eight games following the loss, and the Stars went 1-6-1 in that span.

Burish will probably still fight now and then (he has 25 in his career), but because he is showing more and more that he is a talented checking line player, he probably will back off on the fisticuffs and allow players like Krys Barch and Eric Godard to handle those duties. Burish (53.4 percent) last season was second on the Stars in faceoff winning percentage behind Steve Ott and is a rare right-handed center on the Stars who can really affect the final tally sheet in the circle at the end of the night. He also was second to Ott in short-handed time on ice among forwards at 1:58, and that is a huge role with his ability to take faceoffs.

Burish also led all Stars forwards in blocked shots at 70, which became a problem when he took a few too many and spent a lot of the season limping (in addition to missing the 11 games), and that is one area where it will probably be a little tougher to ask him to lay back.

Then again, maybe you don’t ask Burish to be cautious at all. Maybe you accept that he’s a warrior, that he has to sell out every game to be effective as a leader, and you appreciate that maybe you have a little more depth in those kinds of players by adding Vernon Fiddler and Jake Dowell. Ott is expected to move into the top six forwards and try to squeeze more scoring out of his game, so maybe it’s up to Burish to fill more of Ott’s role and do exactly what he did last year -- play hard and help the team win when he’s on the ice.

Joe Nieuwendyk saw something in Adam Burish that had not been displayed in his NHL career before last season -- he saw the kind of defensive demon and leader that Burish was in college when he helped Wisconsin win the Frozen Four. So, really, we’re all still finding out what Burish is right now. He’ll likely tweak how he approaches the game, and the Stars will tweak how they use him. In a lot of ways, he’s really heading into just the second year of his "new" career.

So, will he back off on fighting or blocking shots? We’ll see. Will he be a leader whose voice is needed on the bench and in the locker room? That seems like a pretty clear yes.

To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.